Secret griefs are more cruel than public calamities.
When a man is in love, jealous, and just whipped by the Inquisition, he is no longer himself.
It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
In every author let us distinguish the man from his works.
God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.
The wicked can have only accomplices, the voluptuous have companions in debauchery, self-seekers have associates, the politic assemble the factions, the typical idler has connections, princes have courtiers. Only the virtuous have friends.